Got a quarter million laying around? Then you could own the Newman bug

5/2/2011

Even after his death, actor Paul Newman appears to have found a way to be timely and cool all at once.

Various sources have reported that the late actor's 1963 Volkswagon convertible with a suped up mid-engine 352 Ford powerplan is currently on sale for $250,000. A picture of it is featured on the website Oldbug.com and to quote the site, "yeeeee fricken hawww!!!".

According to the website, Newman bought the car in 1963 and took it to racecar builder Jerry Eisert for some added power. Eisert brought it up to 300 hp and installed a five-speed ZF transmission.

Soon enough, Newman's love for racing blossomed during filming of the 1969 film Winning.

For the role, Newman and his co-star Robert Wagner learned about race driving at Bob Bondurant's driving school at Riverside Raceway, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Those who can afford Newman's bug should know that owning the car doesn't automatically make you Cool Hand Luke...but it's pretty darn close.